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Untitled sonnet, a poem consisting of fourteen lines (of eleven syllables in Italian, generally twelve in French, and ten

in English), with rhymes arranged according to one or other of certain definite schemes, of which the Petrarchan and the Elizabethan are the principal, viz.: 1. a b b a a b b a, followed by two, or three, other rhymes in the remaining six lines, with a pause in the thought after the octave (not always observed by English imitators, of whom Milton and Wordsworth are prominent examples); 2. a b a b c d c d e f e f g g. The sonnets of Shakespeare are in the latter form. The sonnet was introduced to England by Wyatt and developed by Surrey (see also Metre) and was thereafter widely used, notably in the sonnet sequences of Shakespeare, Sidney, Daniel, Spenser, and other poets of the Golden period, most of which are amatory in nature, and contain a certain narrative development: later sonnet sequences on the theme of love include those of D. G. Rossetti and E. B. Browning. Milton, Donne, Keats, and Yeats have all used the form to great and varied effect, and it continues to flourish in the 20th cent. The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature (3 ed.) Edited by Margaret Drabble, Jenny Stringer, Daniel Hahn Publisher: Oxford University Press Print Publication Date: 2007 Print ISBN-13: 9780199214921 Published to Oxford Reference: 2007 Current Online Version: 2012 eISBN: 9780191727092

Poem of 14 lines, most often in iambic pentameter and usually employing Petrarchan or Shakespearean rhyme schemes. The Petrarchan consists of an octet and a sextet, usually with an abbaabbacdecde rhyme scheme. The Shakespearean, having a final rhyming couplet, is ababcdcdefefgg. World Encyclopedia Publisher: Philip's Published to Oxford Reference: 2004 Current Online Version: 2012 eISBN: 9780199546091

The Oxford Companion to English Literature (7 ed.) Dinah Birch Page 1

Untitled Publisher: Oxford University Press Print Publication Date: 2009 Print ISBN-13: 9780192806871 Published to Oxford Reference: 2009 Current Online Version: 2012 eISBN: 9780191735066 sonnet A short rhyming lyric poem, usually of fourteen lines of iambic pentameter. The term may be applied to poems of different lengths ranging from ten-and-a-half lines in some sonnets of Gerard Manley *Hopkins to sixteen in those of George *Meredith and Tony *Harrison, and some sonnets by Philip *Sidney and others have been composed in alexandrines, but the widely accepted standard is fourteen pentameters. The rhyme schemes of the sonnet have also varied, but fall into two basic patterns. (1) The Italian or Petrarchan sonnet begins with an octave using two rhymes (abbaabba), followed by a sestet with two or three further rhymes (either cdcdcd or cdecde), with a pause or redirection in the thought (called the turn or volta) after the octave. English practitioners of this form, notably John *Milton and William *Wordsworth, have sometimes adapted it to allow a third rhyme in the octave (abbaacca) and a turn in a later position around the tenth line. (2) The English sonnet comprising four quatrains and a couplet has two major versions, the Spenserian form in which the quatrains are linked by rhyme, thus preserving the Italian restriction to five rhymes (ababbabccdcdee), and the Shakespearian scheme of seven rhymes in which the quatrains remain unlinked (ababcdcdefefgg). Italian in origin, and brought to prominence in the love poems of Petrarch, the sonnet was introduced to England by Wyatt, developed by Surrey, and thereafter widely used, notably in the sonnet sequences of Shakespeare (see sonnets of Shakespeare), Sidney, Samuel *Daniel, Edmund *Spenser, and others, most of which are amatory in nature. In the early 17th century, the major sonneteers were John *Donne and Milton, who both extended the subject-matter to religious, political, and philosophical themes. The sonnet was largely neglected by poets of the Restoration and early 18th-century periods, but underwent a significant revival from the late 18th, in the verse of Charlotte *Smith and S. T. *Coleridge, then in the early 19th in the work of Wordsworth and John *Keats. Wordsworth's Nuns fret not at their Convent's narrow room (1807) and Keats's If by dull rhymes our English must be chain'd (posthumously published 1848) both comment self-consciously on the sonnet's formal restraints, Keats's poem exhibiting the unorthodox rhyme scheme abcabdcabdede. Important Victorian sonneteers include Meredith, Hopkins, D. G. *Rossetti, and E. B. *Browning. Major early 20th-century practitioners include W. B. *Yeats and W. H. *Auden; and the form continues to flourish. See Michael Spiller, The Development of the Sonnet (1992).

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Untitled A lyric poem comprising fourteen rhyming lines of equal length: iambic pentameters in English, alexandrines in French, hendecasyllables in Italian. The rhyme schemes of the sonnet follow two basic patterns. 1. The Italian sonnet (also called the Petrarchan sonnet after the most influential of the Italian sonneteers) comprises an 8-line octave of two quatrains, rhymed abbaabba, followed by a 6-line sestet usually rhymed cdecde or cdcdcd. The transition from octave to sestet usually coincides with a turn (Italian, volta) in the argument or mood of the poem. In a variant form used by the English poet John Milton, however, the turn is delayed to a later position around the tenth line. Some later poetsnotably William Wordsworthhave employed this feature of the Miltonic sonnet while relaxing the rhyme scheme of the octave to abbaacca. The Italian pattern has remained the most widely used in English and other languages. 2. The English sonnet (also called the Shakespearean sonnet after its foremost practitioner) comprises three quatrains and a final couplet, rhyming ababcdcdefefgg. An important variant of this is the Spenserian sonnet (introduced by the Elizabethan poet Edmund Spenser), which links the three quatrains by rhyme, in the sequence ababbabccdcdee. In either form, the turn comes with the final couplet, which may sometimes achieve the neatness of an epigram. Originating in Italy, the sonnet was established by Petrarch in the 14th century as a major form of love poetry, and came to be adopted in Spain, France, and England in the 16th century, and in Germany in the 17th. The standard subject-matter of early sonnets was the torments of sexual love (usually within a courtly love convention), but in the 17th century John Donne extended the sonnet's scope to religion, while Milton extended it to politics. Although largely neglected in the 18th century, the sonnet was revived in the 19th by Wordsworth, Keats, and Baudelaire, and is still widely used. Some poets have written connected series of sonnets, known as sonnet sequences or sonnet cycles: of these, the outstanding English examples are Sir Philip Sidney's Astrophel and Stella (1591), Spenser's Amoretti (1595), and Shakespeare's Sonnets (1609); later examples include Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850) and W. H. Auden's In Time of War (1939). A group of sonnets formally linked by repeated lines is known as a crown of sonnets. Irregular variations on the sonnet form have included the 12-line sonnet sometimes used by Elizabethan poets, G. M. Hopkins's curtal sonnets of 10 lines, and the 16-line sonnets of George Meredith's sequence Modern Love (1862). For an extended introductory account, consult John Fuller, The Sonnet (1972). http://www.sonnets.org Sonnet Central: archive of sonnets with historical notes and links.

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